'Bad Karma'
(Ray Liotta, Dominic Purcell, Andy McPhee, Vanessa Gray, et al / DVD / R / 2012 / Anchor Bay Entertainment)
Overview: Ray Liotta stars as Jack Malloy, a hardcore career criminal until a near-death experience causes him to turn his world around. But when his former partner Drake (Dominic Purcell of 'Prison Break') is released from prison, he tracks Jack down to blackmail him into one last job. Jack is a new man determined to lead an honest life. Drake is a charming psycho intent on vengeance.
DVD Verdict: With life all rosey for Malloy (Liotta), and having just bourght a ring to propose to his girlfriend, he goes into a late night corner store for some flowers. There he runs into his former partner Drake (Dominic Purcell). Now, personally, at this stage of the encounter I would have freaked more about Drake's curiously overly-blonde hair style, atop his huge '70s porn 'tache, and his deep, dark Australian accent! But no, Malloy worries more about the one-time favor he wants of him!
Somehow, for the sake of the plot, after an encounter gone wrong, the video tape shows them talking (without sound) as if they were planning it out together. So, immediately, Malloy is on the run and being hunted by his own kind - for nothing he did re: the killing of a store clerk.
'Bad Karma, however, is riveting due to Purcell's OTT performance as the maniac with a gun. Always aiming it at people, pulling the trigger more often than not, it's actually Liotta who keeps the film balanced and on track. Vanessa Gray and Andy McPhee ('Sons Of Anarchy') also co-star in this taut action/drama about good intentions, dark secrets and the harsh consequences of, well, "Bad Karma." This a Widescreen Presentation (1.77:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs.
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